LONDON, CMC – West Indies bowling consultant Sir Curtly Ambrose says his major aim with the Caribbean side is to help them return to playing with the passion and self-belief, that characterized winning teams of the past. The legendary fast bowler, who grabbed 405 wickets in 98 Tests, said the current Windies players possessed the skill set for international cricket but needed to add confidence and consistency to their game, if they were to break out of their losing slump.
“The level of respect the guys have for me it makes my job a little easier but I’ve got to get them to play with some passion and keep believing in themselves because when you’ve been losing for so many years it can be difficult to pick yourself up,” Sir Curtly told TalkSport Radio in a live studio interview here where he was promoting his new autobiography, Time To Talk.
“I intend to bring that passion and self-belief that we can win games and that to me is more important because they have the skills and you have seen that from time to time, but the consistency isn’t there and that’s what I’ve been trying to get them to do.”
West Indies are coming off an impressive showing against England, where they managed a 1-1 draw in the three-Test series earlier this month.
They displayed plenty fight to draw the opening Test in Antigua when they seemed set for defeat and then produced a sterling display in the final Test at Bridgetown, to pull off a shock five-wicket victory inside three days. In between, they lost the second Test in Grenada by nine wickets.
Sir Curtly said he had been impressing on the team all along, the importance of playing together in order to get positive results.
“I joined the team a year ago and that’s one of the things I have been preaching to the guys. When you look at the lineup we don’t have any real superstars like before so I’ve said to the guys that team unity is going to make us better,” Sir Curtly explained.
“We all have to play together as a team and forget about big name players. I’ve tried to drill into the guys that we are better than we are showing and one of the things I keep saying is that we maybe number eight on the ICC rankings list, England are number three but because a team is ranked higher than you, doesn’t mean they are the better team.
“It means they are more consistent, they win more games and they win more series so hence they go up the ladder. We can compete.”
West Indies are preparing to face Australia in a two-Test series starting next month in the Caribbean.
